carbon footprint

We’re all busy, and sometimes making changes to reduce our personal energy use sounds like a lot of time we don’t have to spend. But after a little digging, we found fifteen ways that every home can reduce it’s energy use and each one takes less than a minute! How’s that for time (and energy) efficiency?

Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120°F.

During the heating season, keep window coverings on your south-facing windows open during the day to allow the sunlight to enter your home and closed at night to reduce the chill you may feel from cold windows.

If you have a heat pump, don’t set back its thermostat manually if it causes the electric resistance heating to come on. This type of heating, which is often used as a backup to the heat pump, is more expensive.

Clean or change air filters once every four to six weeks to keep your HVAC running efficiently.

Avoid placing lamps or TV sets near your air-conditioning thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.

Buy ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs or LED light bulbs. They will save you about $30 or more in electricity costs over each bulb’s lifetime and reduce the cost to cool your home since they produce 75% less heat than incandescent bulbs.

Scrape, don’t rinse, off large food pieces and bones from plates. Soaking or prewashing is generally only recommended in cases of burned-on or dried-on food.

Set your sprinklers on a timer so they don’t run longer than needed.

Purchase a water filter or boxed water instead of bottled to reduce plastic waste.

Send your kids out to play in the sprinklers when they are already scheduled to be on.

Open your windows at night when the weather is nice to keep your A/C from running.

During the cooling season, keep window coverings on your south-facing widows closed during the hottest parts of the day to prevent extra heat from coming in.

Unplug your chargers when they aren’t in use. Most chargers continue to draw electricity if they are plugged in.

In the summer, grill instead of roasting meat and veggies to keep the house cool.

And lastly, turn off the lights in a room as you leave.

Do you have any ideas of one-minute ways to save on energy costs at home? Comment below or leave a post on Facebook!